What's new in Spectrum Access System

This page describes the latest changes and additions to Spectrum Access System. It also lists the latest announcements, resources, events, learning opportunities, and more.

July 2024

Spectrum Access System unveils new feature to enhance CBRS spectrum availability near the coast

Spectrum Access System is excited to announce support of CBRS 2.0, a set of changes to interference protection to Federal incumbents that significantly improves the availability of Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum near the coast. With this feature, Spectrum Access System will be able to authorize service to approximately 72 million more people (for a total of approximately 240 million) nationwide without periodic service interruptions to protect federal operations, while also providing greater spectrum access within DPA neighborhoods due to fewer and less frequent grant suspensions.

Check the CBRS overlays in SAS Portal to see the new DPA neighborhoods. You will also notice a number of CBSD grants are no longer in movelists. These changes are a major breakthrough for SAS users, as it will open up a significant amount of new spectrum for use. This will benefit a wide range of applications, including fixed wireless broadband, public safety communications, and private networks.

The Spectrum Access System team is committed to providing our users with the best possible experience, and we believe that CBRS 2.0 will be a valuable addition to our platform. We are excited to see how our users will use this new feature to innovate and create new solutions.

For more information about operating CBSDs near the coast, see our Overview of CBSD concepts.

May 2024

Renew your CBRS professional Installer Certification with Google

If you are a Certified CBRS Professional Installer (CPI) and your certification is about to expire, Google's CPI renewal program lets you continue your duties without interruption. No exam or training needed!

The 'Renew your CBRS Professional Installer Certification' package will be available to all CPIs for only $299. With this renewal package, you will get access to new optional training content on top of all the basic CBRS Certification training material. Go to Coursera to pre-enroll now. If you acquired your initial certification with Google, we will notify you 30 days before your certificate expires.

Learn more about the CPI renewal process in this video.

For more information about Google products and services for CBRS, check the Spectrum Access System community forum.

February 2024

Hawaii CBRS channel availability update

SAS is excited to announce that channels 2-8 (3560-3630 MHz) are now available for use in Hawaii. Channels 11-15 (3650-3700 MHz) will be available as before. This is a valuable step forward for channel availability in the area.

Additionally, any customers with Priority Access Licenses (PAL) on channels 2-8 will also begin receiving PAL protections from SAS moving forward.

January 2024

The following features have been added to SAS this month:

  • Enhanced spectrum availability (EIRP Upgrade)

    SAS can now automatically check whether grants approved with a certain Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) value during the day are eligible for an EIRP increase after the Coordinated Periodic Activities among SASs (CPAS) window has passed, provided they meet eligibility requirements. Citizens Broadband Radio Service Device (CBSD) operators are encouraged to reach out to their vendors to confirm support for the new EIRP upgrade feature. Interoperability tests for this feature are available to vendors to validate that CBSDs are using the higher EIRP. For more information on this feature, see our announcement on the Community Forum.

  • Heartbeat extension

    The transmitExpireTime value for grants outside of Dynamic Protection Area (DPA) neighborhoods has been extended from 4 minutes to 6 hours. Grants that are in the upper50 MHz (3650-3700 MHz) range will also get this extended expiration window, even if located inside DPA neighborhoods. Early access to this feature is available. For more information on this feature, see our announcement on the Community Forum.